Submitted by Maria Faiola on the 2018 winter session program in Italy sponsored by the Department of Philosophy…
In one of culture classes, one of my classmates said, “We have different existences, but the same essence”. We were talking about how no matter how many centuries go by and how different the experiences we live through, humans still are made up of many of the same emotions. This concept is something I am trying to focus on while in Italy and especially Rome. I want to learn about what it was like for people living here throughout history and see the connections that can be made to our lives today. Much of the charm of Rome was in exploring the many ruins that are scattered all around the city, and tell the stories of the people that lived here thousands of years ago. They are the remnants of what once were places bursting with life, but are now reduced to short pillars and walls. Most of the time, although I found the ruins fascinating because of how old they were, I have no idea what it was during ancient times. With all the modern tourist traps and guys trying to sell selfie sticks in the center of Rome, it is even more difficult to relate to and picture the world people lived in among the ruins. But one excursion we took to Ostia Antica was a completely different experience.
For the first time I could really imagine an ancient Roman city and the people that would have lived there. We learned that while some of the ancient Romans’ practices were unimaginable to us today, there are some basic human themes that really never change. In this ancient city, they had baths where they would go to gossip, work out, play games and eat food. They also had a bar, not much different than what ours today look like. They had a market area where different vendors sold various products. There was a forum where people could come to debate and give speeches. The basic human experiences that existed thousands of years ago and still stand today; we like to be entertained, we like to gossip, we like to socialize at bars, we like to debate and we like creative expression. Walking the streets of Ostia Antica, I finally felt like I could see the ancient Romans as people, who felt the same human emotions we feel today and shared some of the same struggles we face.
This realization can also be applied to another aspect of our program, which is service learning. We visited and learned about a community that helps the poor and elderly by talking and building relationships with them and also by providing meals and even job training. We also visited a refugee center that provides all kinds of beneficial services like a place to learn English, relax, get food, and learn trade skills for refugees and migrants, who barely have a second to rest without having to look over their shoulders. Both of these communities focus on treating those, whom much of society has cast aside and looked down upon, with respect and kindness by re alizing that while we may all have different backgrounds and have been born in different decades, we still have the same basic emotions and human spirit. I think that by learning about the people, who lived before and realizing that they were not much different from us today we can better have an appreciation for each other today that may seem different. In the end,we are all human and should treat each other with respect and dignity.